Railway cattle-guard.



No. 65l,4-2|. Patented lune I2, I900. S. L. LAWRENCE 81. J. F. MCBRIDE.

RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

(Application filed Feb. 10, 1899.) (No Model.)

m: scams Pnzns co. PMOTO-LITNO wAsr-uu NITED STATES PATEN Fries.

SYLVANUS L. LAWRENCE AND JOHN F. MCBRIDE, OF ST. CHARLES, IOlVA.

RAILWAY CATTLE-GUARD.

SPECIFIGATION'fOrming part of Letters Patent No. 651,421, dated June 12, 1900.

Applieationfiled February 10,1899. Serial No. 706,228. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, SYLVANUS L. LAW- RENCE and JOHN F. MCBRIDE, citizens of the United States, residing at St..Oharles, in the county of Madison and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Railway Cattle- Gnard, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide improved means for preventing entrance of cattle and other animals from a grade crossing upon the right of way of a railway; and the specific object is to provide means whereby the guard may be kept clear of snow and rubbish and the track surfaced beneath the same.

Our invention consists in the provision of a guard formed of hinged sections so arranged as to be readily removable and replaceable for the purpose of exposing the surface for cleaning.

Our invention consists, further, in the construction, arrangement, and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which'- Figure 1 is a plan of the complete device mounted on a railway-track as required for practical use. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device shown in Fig. 1, the guard-sections being elevated as required to expose the tracksurface for cleaning.

In the construction of the device as shown the numeral designates ordinary cross-ties of a railway-track, which ties are placed parallel to each other and spaced apart and support track-rails 1112 of ordinary form. Crossties 13 14 of greater length than the ties 10 are beneath the rails 11 12 and are secured thereto. Plates 15 16 are mounted on and connect the ends of the cross-ties 13 14. Rockshafts 17 18 are journaled by their end portions in the end portions of the plates 15 16 and extend across the track parallel with each other. A crank 19 is fixed to the outer end portion of the rock-shaft 18, outside of the plate 15. A crank 20 is mounted rigidly on one end of the rock-shaft 17, in alinement with the crank 19. The cranks 19 20 have their free ends bent ontward,andwhen turned down, as shown in Fig. l, a locking-arm 21, pivoted on the plate 15, may be swung over on the plate 15 enters and traverses said slot.

The angle-iron22 extends upwardly from the locking-arm and is transversely apertured to admit a lock 23, whereby the arm is confined and in turn confines the cranks and prevents oscillation of the rock-shafts. Heads 24, 25, and 26 are mounted in alinement on the rockshaft 17, the head 25 between the rails and the heads 24 26 outside said rails. Heads 27, 28, and 29 are mounted in alinement on the rock-shaft 18, the head 28 between the rails and the heads 27 29 outside said rails. Guard bars 30 are mounted on and extend at right angles from the heads 24., 25, and 26, and guard-bars 31 are mounted on the heads 27, 28, and 29 and extend therefrom toward and in alinement with the guard-bars 30. The guard-bars are all of the same length, and the free ends thereof meet at a line midway of the space between the ties 13 14. The inner end portions of the guard-bars are stayed and strengthened by cross ties or plates 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37, fastened to their lower faces, the plates 33 36 being between the rails 11 12 and the plates 32 25 34 37 outside said rails. Thus a cattle-guard is formed in two hinged sections, hinged on the plates 15 16 by means of the rock-shafts 17 18, which may be locked down in a position approximately parallel with the surface of the road-bed or swung up- Wardl y to permitof the convenient and ready removal of the snow and rubbish that otherwise would accumulate beneath the guard and render it useless.

Oross-plates,corru gated bars,or plates either of wood or metal may be substituted for the guard-bars shown and described herein or any other form of guard adopted and fixed to the rock-shafts or arranged for hinging, if desired, without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim as our invention 1. The railway cattle-guard comprising the rock-shafts mounted for oscillation parallel with each other and spaced apart, the cranks on said shafts, the locking-bar arranged for engagement with said cranks, the lock for said bar and the guard-bars fixed to said shafts and extending toward each other.

way and pivoted by means of shafts arranged at right angles to the railway and adapted to be turned through an arc of approximately ninety degrees, cranks on said shafts whereby the guard-sections may be turned mannally and means for locking said cranks in reen in bent positions.

SYLVANUS L. LAWRENCE. JOHN F. MCBRIDE. \Vitnesses:

JUDsoN LEE, J. F. ARNOLD. 

